Ogden draws proverbial line in the sand

OK, maybe Col. William Barrett Travis didn’t draw a line through the blood-spattered sand of the Alamo, but it sure sounded like state Sen. Steve Ogden, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, was doing a bit of line-drawing himself this afternoon, shortly after the Senate recessed. The line the Bryan Republican drew — maybe through the middle of the Capitol rotunda? — was a challenge, not to Democrats, but to fellow Republicans across the way in the House. These are the same Republicans who have passed a budget bill that cuts Texas schools, nursing homes and all manner of social services in the name of fiscal responsibility.

The budget the Senate is likely to pass, Ogden said in his typically laconic way, “saves public education. It saves the nursing home industry in Texas. It takes care of Medicaid patients. The House budget does not. We know how to balance this budget, so the debate is whether you want to save public education and whether you want to save nursing homes or not. And I think we’re right. And we’re going to fight for it.”

Ogden was asked how tough it will be for the Senate budget to prevail.

“I don’t know,” he said. “I believe I and at least 21 other senators believe in it enough that we’re willing to fight for it. . . . These issues are critically important to the state. . . . If we use the House bill, [the fiscal shortfall] will triple. It’ll be three times as big as it is now. The stakes are huge, and I think we’re right, and I think we’re going to stand up and fight for it.”